After a disappointing third-place finish at last week's Duke Golf Classic, the men's golf team tried its skills on the West Coast and came out on top for the third time in four years at the Nelson Invitational at the Stanford Golf Course.
The Blue Devils' win on the par-71 course was fueled by sophomore Ryan Blaum's 12-under par first-place tie with Brad Heaven of Toledo.
Following Blaum, sophomore Nathan Smith and junior Tom Lefebvre tied for tenth with a four-under par performance. Senior Mike Castleforte finished in a 39th-place tie, scoring one-under par in each of his final two rounds. Sophomore Alex Wilson rounded out the Blue Devil squad with a 68th-place tie.
No. 25 Duke was followed by No. 10 Washington, Colorado, Colorado State and Kansas rounding out the top five. Host-team Stanford finished 9th overall in the three-round tournament.
The Nelson tournament was Blaum's first collegiate individual championship. At last week's home competition, he finished sixth, which was his best finish of the season to that point.
The men's team also won the competition at the 6,835 yard course in 2000 and 2002. In last year's action, Blaum finished second for Duke--10th overall--with a three-under par performance. Last year's team was led by 2003 graduate Leif Olson, who won the individual honors at Stanford with a 12-under par effort.
This weekend's tournament marked the end of the fall season for the Blue Devils. Over the past three months, the team had three top-five finishes, including the Nelson win and last week's third-place finish at home. In September, the team placed second at the Topy Cup in Tokyo, Japan.
After taking a winter break from competition, the team resumes action February 8 with the beginning of the spring 2004 season at the Mercedes-Benz Invitational in Ponte Vedra, Fla.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.